Morning Brief

What a weekend in New York City! MSG's hosting it's first NBA All-Star Game since 1998. Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, that most New York-y of holidays. New York Fashion Week goes on, bringing haute couture to Lincoln Center and beyond. And it's Mardi Gras weekend, with the big event on Tuesday.

The NBA All-Star game is coming to New York City this weekend, and Kanye West kicks off the festivities with a concert tonight in Flatiron. A lot of locals aren’t quite happy about the ruckus happening in their backyard—Gothamist has a funny account on their site—but the show is going on anyway, rain, snow, or shine.

A big day for news anchors, both serious and satirical. Jon Stewart will be stepping down from The Daily Show before the end of the year where he’s served as anchor for nearly two decades (this, of course, months after his protégé Stephen Colbert left his eponymous show to take over for David Letterman). And Brian Williams has been suspended from NBC Nightly News for six months, effective immediately in the wake of a changing-story scandal. The story’s been written before, but it seems the satirical news media has gotten the best of the “real guys” once again.

New York’s lowly Knicks are trying something new to end their losing streak—they’re heading to London! It got us here thinking about which of the two big cities is better? We think New York, obviously, and luckily the writers at Versus gave us 36 reasons why they agree, like more ethnic groups and lower sales tax. Anglophiles can read the list of why London’s better too… like a lower murder rate.

The final episode of The Colbert Report aired last night, and lots of guests were on hand to send the faux newsman off, including NJ Senator Cory Booker, President Bill Clinton, and Star Wars creator George Lucas. As the show ends, so does the Colbert character—the conservative blowhard pundit. Colbert (the real one) will of course be taking over for David Letterman some time in 2015. We here at Fordham University got a little taste of that in 2012 when Colbert spoke with Timothy Cardinal Dolan about faith.

It’s the first day of Hannukkah! A beautiful, minor holiday made big because of its proximity to Christmas. Even better this year for the countless families who celebrate both Hannukkah and Christmas—the eight days of Hanukkah ends just in time for Christmas Eve.

In an exciting week in Congress, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s stock is rising higher than any other. The Massachusetts Democrat is leading the charge against some bank-friendly provisions in the recently-passed spending bill, speaking loudly on the issue in opposition to the President. Her strong stances have many Dems saying they’re more Ready for Elizabeth than Hillary.

New York magazine released its annual “Reasons to Love New York” list. It includes serious reasons like “We Protest Passionately and Peacefully” and “Craig Spencer Risked his Life to Safe Others,” and more fun ones like, “We were All Taylor Swift Once,” and “New York Rap Is So Awesomely Weird.” One list entry getting some more press is the story of Moh

Today marks 50 years to the day that the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened, linking Staten Island to Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. But many New Yorkers are using this time to look at the future instead of the past—the MTA’s considering various toll raises, making the cost up to $16 in cash to cross. The proposal has local elected officials so mad they’re skipping the event.